What is an RPG?

RPG is the collective term for role-playing games. More specifically any game in which you play a character of your choice, choosing their actions and personality for them. This has a broad spectrum of application such as with videogames where the Elder Scrolls series is massively popular and tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons. In terms of a tabletop game the term applies to games like Dungeons and Dragons and Shadowrun in that the players are able to make a character from the ground up, including their abilities, knowledge, and personality, and then play the game while acting as that character. Different players have different levels of immersion. Some are in character from the beginning to the end of a session while others will elect to play from a distance, describing their character’s actions but not actually pretending to be them. Most players fall somewhere in between these two extremes. RPGs are played in sessions which can last 4-8 hours depending on the group and often is run with 3-4 players and a Game Master (or GM). The Game Master tells the story and acts as the system and world while the players simply play their character. The appeal of an RPG is its near limitless freedom of choice. If you want to have an assassin satyr who decides to fight with acids and talk his way out of conflicts you can. You can also have a human warrior that fights with a large rubber chicken while making chicken noises to enrage their opponent. RPGs can be as silly or as serious as a group desires.

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